Wheelchairs & ramps missing, no volunteers at polling booths

HYDERABAD: Specially-abled voters were left in the lurch due to poor arrangements made by the election authorities at polling booths on Thursday. Lack of volunteers, no ramps and broken wheelchairs greeted voters in Gachibowli, Lingampally, Nallagandla and Kondapur. Many Persons with Disability (PwD) made their own arrangements to reach the polling station as they were unaware of the transport facility being provided by the GHMC. P Venkatesh, who drove down to the polling booth in his four-wheeled scooter, said: “No one told me about the transport facility. Nevertheless, I came on my own as I was keen on voting.”

At Civil Supplies Bhavan and Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Punjagutta, there were no wheelchairs and few PwD voters were physically lifted and taken inside the booth by volunteers. At Zikra high school, wheelchairs were taken out of the cartons only in the afternoon. At Rasoolpura in Secunderabad Cantonment, 85-year-old Sabitha had to walk to the polling station as wheelchair was not available. Another physically-challenged woman Praveena reached the polling station in Secunderabad Cantonment area with her husband on a two-wheeler. However, in absence of wheelchair, she was forced to walk to get inside the polling booth.